Chapter 21
While the giant projector on the wall connected to his laptop, Louis thought about how he had never worked harder than he had been in the past eighteen months, after the birth of Aurora.
He was going through the frantic search for a modification of Telomerax to avoid a catastrophic interference with pregnancy while also monitoring how Aurora was growing up. It had been about six months since Mr. Lee asked him to do the analysis of the Telomerax imitations that were starting to appear in the drug trade underworld.
Even with superintelligence, it required long hours of work, extensive globetrotting, and neglect of personal relationships. Dora had started to complain because there was too much silence and inexpressive nods. He feared it could end up with a divorce, as it had happened between Helena and George shortly after the birth of Aurora.
The first slide appeared on the screen, showing two pills with the carved T on top, placed next to each other. He cleared his mind of all side thoughts and focused on his audience, which was made up of Mr. Lee and three top members of the Central Committee of China’s Communist Party.
Louis had not been told their names. All he knew from Mr. Lee is that they were very close to the Secretary General, Mr. Xi Jinping, who for obvious reasons would not attend the meeting.
Louis had insisted to know at least what they did, otherwise he would not show up in Beijing in person to update them. After much negotiation, Mr. Lee eventually revealed that one was Mr. Xi Jinping’s most trusted personal counselor, another one was the head of the secret service, and the last one was a top-ranking officer of the Bank of China.
“Based on the evidence collected by Mr. Lee, we know that the counterfeited version of Telomerax started spreading in South Africa and was later detected in India, Egypt, and Thailand. We have been able to collect some samples, which I have analyzed in the last few months. As always, there are things we are sure about, things that are very likely or at least possible, and things which we do not have even the slightest idea about an answer.”
Louis paused, not a sign of life came from his audience until Mr. Lee invited him to proceed with a long nod.
“We know for sure that the counterfeiters have had extensive access to Telomerax samples, so that they could study its molecular structure and how the drug is used in the body. This explains the similarities in the structure of their molecule. Let me call it Pseudo-Telomerax from now on.”
“Second, they have access to top level biochemistry research facilities. Pseudo-Telomerax is engineered in a very sophisticated way, with tools available only to the most advanced countries or big multinationals.”
“Third, they focused on copying the dopamine interference effects. Pseudo-Telomerax is still very ineffective in replicating the core active principle action. In other words, they understood that the cocaine effect lied on the outer molecules and focused on that.”
Louis was moving to the next slide when one of the attendees interrupted him abruptly,
“Professor Picard, let me call you by your real name, this is all fine but we need to know who is responsible.”
“Easy to understand why,” thought Louis. They had a competitor for a multibillion dollar market. And Mr. Lee and the Communist Party of China could not accept the idea that they would have had to share their huge profits with someone else.
“As I said, any idea about who has done this is pure conjecture. From what I know, drug cartels do not have this type of scientific knowledge, even though they run large operations....”.
Louis stopped and he thought about the lab tests run by Mr. Lee at the beginning of their cooperation. How long before his legal pharmaceutical company would start commercializing its own counterfeit version of Telomerax? He immediately restarted, fearing his pause might give hints to Mr. Lee about his reflections. Fortunately for him, his mind now processed ideas three times as fast as the one of ordinary people, and his audience barely noticed the pause in his speech.
“....the other thing we are quite sure about, looking at the new molecular structure, is that the imitators have come up with other serious side effects, such as a noticeable growth of the hormones that regulate aggressiveness.”
This time, another member of the audience was polite enough to raise his hand before asking his question. “Maybe he is the trusted advisor of Xi Jinping,” thought Louis. He stopped talking and invited him to speak.
“Do you mean, Dr. Picard, that people using Pseudo-Telomerax would experience the excitement of cocaine and have the metabolites of cocaine disappear, but over time develop a more aggressive attitude?”
“That is correct, but most importantly they will also become far more aggressive while under the effect of cocaine and Pseudo-Telomerax. They would attack things and people around them and would not stop until physically exhausted because they would feel the positive effects of dopamine.”
Mr. Lee looked at the others and chuckled,
“Our imitators have invented the zombie drug then!”
He was immediately interrupted by the impolite member, whom Louis now suspected to be the head of the secret service.
“With the difference that it is easier to kill them, and the effects are not permanent. When do you think the effects will start to appear, Professor Picard?”
“It depends on the individual. However, looking at how Pseudo-Telomerax functions, I think it would take anywhere between two to three years. If I am correct, we should see the first cases on the news in one or two years from now, assuming this stuff has been around for at least one year.”
Mr. Impolite did not bother to comment directly and instead turned his head towards Mr. Lee.
“Still, we do not know how our imitators have managed to get enough material to copy the pill. Are you having problems in your supply chain, Mr. Lee?”
Mr. Lee was not used to answer difficult questions, but he was expecting this one.
“Anyone of our customers can give it to a competitor, and we have more than five thousands users of Telomerax on the five continents by now. You can no longer count on the loyalty of everybody. We are, however, reviewing our distribution chain to see if there are major inconsistencies.”
Mr. Lee did not mention that he had evidence that in Africa, India and the Middle East also real Telomerax was being sold along with the fake one, out of the control of his channels.
“Mr. Picard, at the beginning you said the fake drug was not able to replicate the effects of Telomerax. Are there any side effects besides the one of cleaning up cocaine in the body?”
The question came from the last member of the group who had not asked any questions so far. Louis looked at Mr. Lee, who remained impassible. Had Mr. Lee never shared the anti-aging news with his team? Or was it only unknown to this group? Were they seeking a further confirmation from him directly? Then, why were they using his real name? His fake identity was a British one.
“I thank you for the great attention you paid to my presentation. The fact is, I started in cosmetics, and Telomerax was supposed to be a skin care treatment, delaying the aging of cells and preserving the youthful appearance of my patients. It had a certain success, but then I found out the side effects on cocaine and my partnership with Mr. Lee began. It seems that the organization that is now copying my drug has no insight into aesthetics and looks only to reap immediate profits, at the expense of long term losses.”
The man acknowledged Louis' answer with a smile. Louis thought he was probably the one representing the Bank of China.
After the meeting, when Louis finally returned back to Zurich, he was still so lost in his thoughts about the Beijing meeting that he almost ran over Frau Hannelore Glockner, their neighbor. He screeched to a halt before the pedestrian crossing, where Frau Glockner was walking. After a short moment of sheer terror, Frau Glockner quickly regained control. She ran to the left side of the car and knocked on the driver window.
As the childless widow of a bank executive, she was living in the house opposit
e to the one of the Picards and she used to rent out rooms to students and foreign young workers to continue living in the expensive neighborhood. Louis rolled down the car window. Frau Glockner was overwhelmed with disbelief: how could an orderly, polite and respectful person like Louis - whom she knew as Richard Pearlman - behave like her previous Italian neighbors?
“Frau Hannelore, I am terribly sorry! I was lost in thought and I think the car has a problem, because it did not react immediately…you look terrible, if you want I can take you to see a doctor…just to make sure the scare did not have any other effect….”
“Herr Pearlman, I was not expecting this from you,” Frau Glockner replied coldly, moving back to the last name, after almost two years of addressing him on a first name basis. “Since your arrival five years ago, I was hoping that your young yet rule-abiding family would help me in restore some much needed discipline to our neighborhood, but I was wrong. I will have to watch over you as well. Good evening, Herr Pearlman.”
She walked past the car to her door, without waiting for a reply. Louis parked the car in the garage and entered his house. From the living room couch, Dora groaned to welcome him home. The television was airing one of the old episodes of Dr. House. He hesitated, then groaned back, and headed to his basement lab.